More Owl!

28012009

Northern Hawk Owl and Vole - AJ Hand

AJ Hand, who last weeks owl prowl participants got to meet in the flesh, sent me this stunning picture of the Northern Hawk Owl from New Hampshire. Brilliantly atmospheric and fantastic timing from the photography aspect. Here is the great story that surrounds the shot in AJ’s own words:

“We were shooting this Hawk Owl on Monday, as he sat perched high in a tree, alertly scanning the countryside. Not long after we got set up, he started cocking his head left and right, and bobbing up and down. Suddenly he swooped down–right at us–and crashed into the snow not 6 feet away. After a brief struggle he popped up with this vole and flew to this perch where he ripped off the head and ate that, then quickly swallowed the rest, neck first . After we got shots of him chowing down,we checked out the murder scene.

It turns out, the vole had been crawling through his subnivean tunnel and came to a spot where it cut across a deep snowmobile track. To continue his journey, he had to pop out of the tunnel, get across 16 inches of packed snow and reenter the tunnel on the other side of the track. It looked like the owl got him before he even started across, just as he was just peeking out and evaluating the situation. Never had a chance!”

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2 responses

Sounds like an exciting account-great photo too.-I’m looking forward to recording things in my journal soon.-I’ve been spending my January doing that bird counting game. It does make the month go by quicker.